That’s right. You need to decide you are capable, worthy and smart enough to attain the financial status you desire.

Believing in oneself is the first critical step toward accomplishing any goal, including achieving wealth.

Decide that you will be rich, and begin working toward your goal.

Wishing doesn’t produce results, but doing does. So, be a doer, not a wisher.

What it means to be rich

Let’s review the definition of rich as well as several key components to being rich, which are not included in your traditional definition.

The word rich is an adjective. Its definition is: having wealth or great possessions; abundantly supplied with resources, means or funds; or of great value or worth.

The word rich means many things to many people, but often it is misconstrued as merely having lots of money.

From my perspective, wealth is not the most important characteristic of being rich. I believe that Mahatma Gandhi got it right when he said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”

If you don’t have your health, you don’t have much.

No matter what your religion, age, race or gender are, your life has an expiration date.

I think people should get the most out of life and enjoy it.

If you have a solid investment process and/or work with a trusted financial adviser, a few percentage points of portfolio returns here or there probably will not alter your lifestyle significantly in the long run.

Don’t sweat the small stuff

So get the big, important decisions right, and then don’t sweat the small stuff.

Let’s use an example of buying a home appliance versus a house.

A home appliance can be an expensive purchase, say anywhere between $500 to $5,000 dollars.

However, a house, as we all know, costs many thousands more dollars than an appliance.

Point being, if you overspend on a refrigerator, it might take a month or two to absorb the “loss of value” to your net worth.

But if you overpay for a house, it could potentially take decades to get over the impact on your finances.

However, many people fret over both decisions equally.

Be content with what you have

Being rich also can mean being content, and being content starts in your mind.

There always will be someone with more than you and someone with less.

A great challenge in life involves being content with what you have.

It is easy in modern society to want to keep up with the Joneses instead of living within your means.

Many financial professionals can tell yoy they have met with people who “latte their lives away.”

In other words, purchasing a $5 drink every day throughout your lifetime could mean the difference between financial independence versus struggle in the long term.

Attaining financial independence often can be achieved with a step as simple as saving the $5 instead of buying a beverage.

The next time you want to purchase something new and shiny, think about the last new and shiny item you purchased and how you now feel about it.